Jodhpur: Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday flew in a Sukhoi-30 MKI. The 58-year-old leader, clad in an olive green pilot's G- suit, sat in the rear seat behind the pilot in the cockpit of the two-seater fighter jet, which took off from the Jodhpur air base.

Looking calm, the country's first woman defence minister waved from inside the cockpit and also could be seen showing a thumbs up sign as the aircraft moved for take off.

Prior to the sortie, Sitharaman was briefed by the pilot. She also familiarised herself with the formidable fighter jet and its cockpit.

After her sortie, she addressed and interacted with the Air Warriors of Air Force Station, Jodhpur.

Sitharaman became the first Indian woman defence minister to go on a sortie on the IAF's frontline combat jet. With the 45-minute sortie aboard the supersonic jet, she also became the second Indian woman leader to fly in a Sukhoi-30 MKI after then president Pratibha Patil did so in 2009.

When he was the president, APJ Abdul Kalam had also flown in the fighter jet. Sitharaman is the second defence minister after George Fernandes to fly in a Sukhoi-30 MKI.